The present invention relates to playyards in which small children can be placed, and particularly to a separate playyard canopy that mounts to the top of a playyard frame to cover the playyard. More particularly, the present invention relates to a collapsible canopy for mounting on a playyard and folding between a collapsed storage configuration and an opened playyard-covering configuration.
Playyards in which small children can be placed are well known. Playyards are typically configured as cubicles having a floor panel and side panels extending upwardly therefrom to confine the child within the playyard so that the child is prevented from wandering away from the playyard. Some conventional playyards are collapsible allowing the playyard to be folded from an opened playyard configuration to a collapsed compact storage configuration. See, for example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,279,006 to Teng and 4,811,437 to Dillner et al.
Playyards usually have open tops so that a person attending to the child can place the child into and remove the child from the playyard easily. In addition, the side panels of conventional playyards are usually somewhat transparent so that the person attending to the child can see into the playyard to observe the activities of the child and so that the child can see out of the playyard to observe the surrounding environment. When a playyard is exposed to direct sunlight, the open top permits the sunlight to shine into the playyard potentially making the child contained in the playyard uncomfortable. The open top of the playyard also permits other objects to enter the playyard.
Playyard covers that can be attached to the playyard to cover the open top of the playyard are known. See, for example, U.S. application Ser. No. 08/940,909, filed Sep. 30, 1997 and U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,681,659; 4,790,340; 5,862,548; 5,099,866; 2,958,084; Des. 370,149; Des. 404,216; Des. 390,730; Des. 367,788; and Des. 366,978 and the HAPPY CABANA(trademark) Play Yard disclosed in the Evenflo 1995 Baby Products Catalog at page 12, which disclosures are hereby incorporated by reference herein.
A canopy in accordance with the present invention is provided to cover the top of a playyard. The canopy includes a canopy cover and a canopy support adapted to be coupled to a playyard and configured to support the canopy cover. The canopy support includes a rod connector and several support rods. Each support rod has an inner end pivotably coupled to the rod connector and an outer end adapted to be coupled to one of the corner pieces included in the playyard so as to retain the canopy support on the playyard and position the canopy cover over the playyard.
In preferred embodiments, the rod connector includes a connector ring arranged to pass through apertures formed in the inner ends of each support rod and a rod mount configured to support the connector ring. The inner end of each support rod lies in a slot formed in the rod mount and is free to pivot about a portion of the connector ring which passes through that slot. Thus, the support rods are able to pivot about the connector ring from a spread configuration arranged to support the canopy cover above a set-up playyard to a collapsed configuration arranged to be stored in a space provided in a collapsed playyard.
In other embodiments, the canopy also includes a vent tower coupled to a top portion of the canopy cover and the canopy support also includes a collapsible tower frame coupled to the several support rods and configured to support the vent tower above the canopy cover. The vent tower includes a ceiling and a mesh side wall.
Additional features of the invention will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of preferred embodiments exemplifying the best mode of carrying out the invention as presently perceived.